Chronicles from the Order of Stars: The Beginning
by Xomniac
Summary: Good and evil have always been in conflict. Ten heroes from different worlds, as well as their allies, will join the war between the opposing sides, following their predecessors' steps. Multi x-over.
1. Chapter 1: The Prologue, naturally

**Chapter 1: The Prologue, naturally**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, One Piece, Inuyasha, Bleach, Soul Eater, -Man, Fairy Tail, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, or any other previously licensed book, show, or movie. The only things that I do own are my ideas and my original characters. **

**Author's Note: Welcome readers one and all to my fanfiction. My name (as far as you know) is Xomniac, and I am an amateur writer. **

**For years now I have been fantasizing about this story, and now I have summoned up the courage to lay my dreams bare before the world. This is the first story I have ever written, and most likely it will be the last (or maybe not, but we'll see, we'll see.) Nonetheless, I would appreciate it if you would all leave me with as much advice and as many comments and/or suggestions as you can.**

**Before I begin, I would like to thank my beta-author HTM for helping me muster the courage to do this and for being a very helpful partner in this story's development; I would also like to thank my mother Leslie and my step-father Leo for being so supportive of my story.**

**Anyway, without further ado, I ask that you perform the three simple tasks that all authors on this website want their readers to do: **

**READ! REVIEW! ENJOY!**

_Ever since the beginning of all existence, as long as there has been sentient life in the multiverse, throughout every single calamity, disaster, or tremendous upheaval of the 'natural order', the one sole constant in it all has been conflict. War, genocide, disagreement, all of these and more have been around since anything ever existed. And all of these conflicts can, one way or another, be boiled down to two things: Good and Evil._

_No matter the event, no matter the time or place, these two forces have always existed, and have always opposed each other on every front. Though the line between them may stretch, and at times become nearly indiscernible, it is forever present, forever separating the two into opposing factions._

_The war between Good and Evil, forever present yet most often invisible to the naked eye, has raged ceaselessly for as long as there have been soldiers to fight it. And throughout this invisible war, there have been representatives of both sides, those who bear the standards of their factions and ride to battle._

_There have been many soldiers, many societies and gatherings and organizations that have worked for either side. This story is about the greatest supporters of Good that have ever existed. This story tells of the greatest generation that this order of justice has ever known._

_Each member of this generation has their own reason for fighting in a war that they most likely will never see the conclusion of._

_Some fight because of events outside their control…_

In the middle of the night, in a large village hidden inside a forest in a destitute apartment, a pair of blue eyes snapped open, shock at waking up clearly evident within them.

The owner of the eyes sat up suddenly, arms flailing, gasping for breath. When he finally calmed down, he was sitting up in bed panting heavily, hand on his chest feeling his heart pound. After calming down, the boy slowly reached up and slid his nightcap off his head, revealing a spiky mane of blond hair. He was a young kid, only around 16 years old, his most defining features being the three whisker marks on each cheek. This boy was Naruto Uzumaki.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto murmured to himself. Looking outside, the blond noticed that it was still night-time. Moaning, he determined that there was no way he was possibly going to get back to sleep with the way he was feeling.

"Well, if I can't sleep, might as well eat," Naruto said to with that, he slowly got out of bed and wandered towards the apartment's kitchen. Once there, he took an unopened cup of ramen out of a cupboard and set the water to boil.

His waking task accomplished, he slumped into a nearby chair and rested his face in his hands, contemplating what had happened earlier. '_Seriously, just what the hell happened? One second I'm fast asleep, next I get some sort of…feeling that wakes me up. What the hell?'_

Glancing up from his hands, he noticed something illuminated by the moonlight. Smiling, he got up and walked over to pick it up. He then headed to the window so that he could see it better.

It was a photograph showing four figures; standing on the right was a short blond kid with blue eyes, around 12 years old. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and had a headband with a metal plate that had a symbol shaped like a leaf engraved on it. He was scowling at the person on the left hand side of the photo.

The boy the younger Naruto was glaring at was a short kid with black hair, only 12 years old. He was wearing a blue shirt and a headband similar to the blonde's. He was glaring at the camera, looking like he wanted to be absolutely anywhere but there.

Standing between the two boys, seemingly oblivious to the negative emotions that they were giving off, was a young girl with shockingly pink hair. She was wearing a red dress and was using a headband as a makeshift hair tie. Her eyes were closed as she smiled happily.

Standing tall above them was an older man. He was wearing a green flak vest and a mask that covered the lower half of his face and a headband that covered his left eye, leaving only his right eye visible. Despite looking to be in his late twenties, he had grey hair that somehow seemed to spike out above his head. He was ruffling the hair of the two boys, most likely adding to their discontent.

Naruto smiled while looking at the picture, blissfully reminiscing. "Yup," he mused to himself, "Those were the good old days."

Slowly, he raised his eyes and peered out the window and out towards the night sky. As the stars reflected in his eyes, his smile slowly shrank, and a single, simple, unprovoked thought ran through his head.

Just then, Naruto heard a familiar plastic click behind him. His smile immediately jumped back onto his face. "Water's ready!" he quietly exclaimed to himself. He turned around and headed back inside to prepare the final stages of ramen development. But not even the joys of ramen could dampen the worry he felt gnawing in his gut.

_Some fight to find those they have lost…_

It was an ordinary night at Mahora Academy.

Well, if you could call an academy filled with mages, half-demons, a robot and a shinso vampire normal. In any case, by their standards, it was an average, run-of-the-mill night.

At least, it was for anyone who wasn't an 11 year old mage/teacher with red hair that had recently saved the Magical World from total exposure and was planning a trip, or expedition, or quest, to the Magical World with the members of his class of Japanese high school girls.

No, for Negi Springfield, tonight was far from an ordinary night. His first clue was when he woke up in the middle of it for apparently no good reason, covered in sweat and panting as though he'd ran a marathon.

'_Wha-what on earth was that?_'thought Negi desperately. He glanced around the room he shared with his students and quickly extended his senses. '_No significant magical signature nearby, at least no foreign ones, and I don't think I had a dream, so,_' Negi bowed his head and furrowed his brow, thinking hard. '_What woke me up?_'

Negi turned his head and looked out the window towards the night. '_The last time I felt anything even similar to this was right before the festival. But that was tiny, minuscule, just a passing shiver. Whatever that was, it can only mean one thing. Something big is on the way._'

He felt some movement right next to him. Turning his head, he saw his red haired bunk-mate and pactio-partner Asuna lazily raise her head from her pillow, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Hey, everything alright, brat?" she mumbled.

Negi smiled at her sleepy expression. "Don't worry Asuna, I just had a bad dream is all, go back to sleep."

Murmuring her confirmation, she lowered her head and closed her eyes. When he heard her (relatively) light snoring, Negi turned back to the window, renewed confidence ablaze in his eyes. '_Whatever it is,_' he thought '_I will beat it, I will protect my students, I swear!_'

As he stared out the window, he watched the stars. One thought flashed quickly through his mind. He blinked in confusion but dismissed it as unimportant. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned around and lied down, snuggling into Asuna and getting ready to doze off in the nice, warm-

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BED YOU LITTLE PERVERT!" CRASH! BANG! "OUCH!"

Or the floor, the floor was good. His pooling blood certainly helped soften it. And thanks to what he felt was a concussion, he barely even felt a thing.

Yes, just another ordinary night in Mahora Academy.

_Some fight because it is the only path they have known their whole lives…_

In the middle of the state of Nevada, there is a desert. In the middle of that desert is a huge city, filled with white buildings with red roofs piling on top of one another, forming a sort of pyramid.

In the middle of this city, standing above all other buildings, is an extravagant structure, at least a hundred feet tall, cartoonish white skulls emblazoned on the walls, with towering spires, three black orbs floating above it, and four gargantuan, never-melting candles sticking out of the corners.

This is the Death Weapon Meister Academy. This is the DWMA.

Less than a mile from the academy is a small apartment, home to an albino punk with shark-teeth and the ability to transform into a scythe, a blonde girl with pigtails who was the punk's partner, and a cat with ridiculous amounts of magical power and the ability to turn into a busty black haired beauty.

This was the home of Soul Eater Evans, Maka Albarn, and Blair the witch cat.

And it was in this home that Maka woke up, sweating and breathing heavily, hair undone and framing her head. She calmed down slightly and looked around her room, looking for whatever could have possibly woken her up. Feeling a weight on her lap, she looked down and saw a black cat wearing a witch's hat curled up in it, sleeping soundly.

Finally calm again, she let loose a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and fell back on her bed, her thoughts in turmoil. '_What was_ that_? There aren't any souls nearby, and Blair didn't wake up, so what…?_'

Sighing in exasperation, the blond sat up again. "I need a drink," she mumbled to herself. Gently, Maka lifted Blair from her lap, got out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

She opened the fridge and leaned down, checking what was available. Judging from the blue mold growing on some of the things in there, the prospects were not good. Sighing, Maka made a mental note to make a food run the next day and reached into the fridge for the milk.

"Hey."

Maka quickly whipped around to face her would-be aggressor, performing what she considered to be the most logical course of action given the situation.

"MAKA CHOP!" SMACK! "OW!"

Said course being to apply a hard-cover edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica to the aforementioned aggressor's skull.

The aggressor lay on the ground nursing a newly formed lump that was poking through his white hair. '_Wait, white hair?_'

"Soul! What do you think you're doing, scaring me like that?!" Maka admonished.

The albino weapon stood up, groaning from the pain. "I _thought _that I was going to ask my meister why she was digging through our fridge this late at night. What the hell Maka, you didn't have to hit me!"

Maka huffed in annoyance. "Yeah well, you didn't have to sneak up on me!"

Soul sighed. "So uncool..."

He raised an eyebrow at the blond. "My question still stands though. What are you doing up this late?"

Maka hesitated before she rebuked. "Y-yeah well… I could ask the same of you!"

Soul sighed at his meister's pig-headedness. "I got some sort of… feeling, while I was asleep. It was so strong that it shocked me awake."

Maka's eyes widened before she looked down. "That's what happened to me to."

Soul blinked at her in shock before he pressed his hand to his forehead and sighed exasperatedly. "Now that's _really_ uncool…"

He watched as Maka slowly walked towards the nearby window and leaned on the sill, looking out towards the stars and the moon. He stood there for a few moments before he joined her.

"Soul… what do you think it means?" Maka asked in a whisper. Soul glanced at her before reverting his gaze to the ever-mocking moon.

"I dunno. It felt powerful." Maka's shoulders slumped. "But…" When she looked towards him, he clapped one of his hands on her shoulder and smiled his usual arrogant, shark-like smile. "Whatever it is, we'll beat it together, just like always," he stated confidently.

Maka stared at him for a few moments before she returned a small smile. "Yeah," She looked towards the stars again. "Together."

They stared at the stars for a few moments longer, a small thought crossing their minds almost simultaneously.

Blinking in confusion, Soul turned towards an equally confused Maka. "Hey, did you…"

"Y-yeah," She stuttered. "For a few seconds, I was sure that…"

They stared at each other for a minute before Maka turned around abruptly and started walking away. "W-well, goodnight then."

"Yeah, you too."

And thus they headed back to their respective beds and fell back to sleep, unaware of the greater events in motion.

_Some fight because of the scars of the past…_

It was midnight on a small island in the middle of a body of water. On this island, near the northern tip, stood a grand church of immense size. This was the Headquarters of the Eastern European Branch of the Black Order. This was a home of exorcists.

Specifically, it was home to a short, white-haired exorcist that had a curse on his left eye, and a weapon in his left arm. This was the home of Allen Walker, who had recently woken up in a slight panic, looking around his small, cell-like room like a cornered animal.

"What was that?" Allen asked himself. Seeing that he was alone, Allen calmed down a bit, although not by much. He put his back against the wall behind his bed, and shadowed his eyes with his left arm while he attempted to collect his thoughts.

'_Okay, what just happened? I was sleeping, I know that much, but then it's like I got some sort of… premonition. Sure, I've gotten them before, like moments before I saw the Level 4 egg, but compared to this…_'

Allen was broken out of his train of thoughts by a sudden weight dropping on his head. Smiling, he reached up and held the object out in front of him. "Oh hey Tim, sorry, did I scare you?"

The little golem flew up and head-butted Allen a few times. Allen raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."'_I hope,_' he grimly added in his head.

Accepting the apology, Timcanpy settled down in Allen's lap, who noticed that the golden ball was shivering slightly. "What's wrong Tim? Were you scared for me?" Tim nodded. Allen's face softened. "You didn't want to lose me like Master, huh?" More nodding, this time with a frantic edge to it. "Don't worry Tim, I'm not going anywhere."

Sighing, Allen turned his gaze on his left hand. '_Or am I? Look at what's happened. First I find out that I can fly an ancient ship through space using a piano, then the Order gets attacked by Akuma and a Level 4, I find out there's a Noah inside of me, and Master goes and gets himself killed. With the rate things have been changing lately, anything could happen._'

Suddenly, a series of faces flashed through his mind; a woman with black hair and dark rings under her eyes, a younger woman with short black hair and glowing boots, an older looking teen with a sword and a long black ponytail, and a tall black man wearing headphones. There was also a teen with red hair and an eye-patch, a short old man who resembled a panda, and a tall man with a shock of white hair and fangs.

Allen looked out the window, smiling contentedly while he thought about his friends. '_Well, whatever the case might be, I know that together, there is no way in hell we can possibly lose,'_ he optimistically thought.

As he watched the stars in the sky, a thought flashed across Allen's mind. Its implications made Allen shiver. '_Now _there's _a scary thought, almost as bad as Master getting drunk and going to that Las Vegas _place.'

As Allen considered what that would be like, his face became increasingly haunted, until he looked downright horrified.

'_On second thought, NOTHING could be as bad as that!_'

Quickly lying back down in an attempt to escape the terrifying images, Allen promptly fell asleep. Little did he know, his last waking thoughts were about to be proven wrong.

_Some fight to fulfil their wildest dreams…_

It was a quiet night on an island in the middle of the ocean. An island that cycled through 48 separate seasons, populated with over 500 of the most dangerous animals in the world, and was situated one of the most dangerous strips of ocean in the world.

Well, 'quiet' might not have been the most accurate description, considering how the air was filled with roars, whines, yips and caws from many of the various animals; as well as the rumblings of varying volcanoes and waterfalls.

"Peaceful" wouldn't fit either, seeing how many of the animals were calling out either in pain, defiance, victory, or a combination of all three. Average! That was the word; it was an average, ordinary, blood-and-battle-filled night.

At least, it was for most things on the island. For one young, toned, scarred, black haired pirate named Monkey D. Luffy, it was not an average night. Now, most people might call Luffy dim, and they would be correct in that description; for the most part anyway. But even an idiot like him understood that something was up when he suddenly woke up out of the blue for no apparent reason.

Luffy blinked a few times in confusion as he breathed heavily. "Whoa, what was that?!" he asked himself. He quickly scanned the clearing he had been sleeping in. Nothing had changed; Rayleigh was snoring against a nearby rock, the creatures he had befriended were still sleeping behind him and the piles of skeletons from animals he had hunted and subsequently eaten (read: devoured) lay undisturbed.

Luffy tilted his head in confusion and crossed his arms across his chest. "OK, so it wasn't any of the animals, and I wasn't having a dream. I did get this weird feeling though, but what could it have meant?" Luffy closed his eyes and bit his lip as he racked his brains for what could have happened. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he pounded his fist into his palm, grinning like an idiot. "I know! It was a mystery feeling!"

He maintained his position for a few moments before he slumped down. "No, that's stupid." He quickly cheered up and got to his feet. "Ah well, if I can't sleep, might as well eat." And with that, he walked off into the woods.

About a half hour later, he walked back out, easily dragging the carcass of a gargantuan rhinoceros behind him. Luffy then dropped the body and rekindled the camp fire that had gone out last night. However, instead of tearing into the sweet, delicious, succulent meat like he normally would have, Luffy stared silently into the flames, deep in his thoughts, as unbelievable as that may seem.

'_I've been on this island for around a year and a half now...I wonder how everyone else is doing.' _He mused to himself._ 'I bet that they've all gotten really strong, like me! Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook… I hope they're all right. The stuff on this island, it's only a taste of what's in the New World; if we'd faced things this strong back then, we'd have been torn apart!' _Luffy winced as he tenderly fingered an X-shaped scar on his chest. _'I'm living proof of that…'_

Luffy stared into the fire a little longer before he slapped both sides of his head simultaneously. "Gah, what am I thinking?! Of course we're stronger, I know it! We're gonna beat everyone in our way! We're not gonna lose again!" He shot to his feet and pointed his fists to the sky, shouting "YOU HEAR THAT WORLD? I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!"

When Luffy finished, he maintained his pose, panting heavily. As he watched the night sky, a thought flashed through his head unbidden. Luffy blinked before grinning maniacally. "Now THAT sounds interesting!"

He stood there, grinning at the sky for a short while; until a rock hit him in the head.

"Shut up and go to sleep you idiot."

"Sorry Rayleigh!"

_Some fight in defiance of the fate handed to them…_

Sengoku: a period in Japan's history renowned as a time of political and social upheaval; known as the "Age of the Country at War", it was one of the most bloody eras in Japan.

However, there is an untold side to the Sengoku Period.

It was also a time filled with magic, where demons ran rampant across the countryside, terrorizing farmers and nobles alike. Nothing was sacred to them; they destroyed everything and everyone that got in their paths.

They were especially dangerous at night, making sleeping in the wild especially dangerous and posting sentries necessary. And it was _especially _necessary that said sentries remained awake and vigilant; a task which one long-and-white-haired, dog-eared, fanged half-demon wearing a red cloak was failing at spectacularly. Or at least, he was…until his eyes snapped open.

Most other people would have jerked forward in shock from what he had just felt, but Inuyasha wasn't other people. His instincts kept him from making any sudden movements when waking up unless he was under attack; however, they didn't keep his heart from pounding like a jack-hammer in his chest, or his eyes from darting around his surroundings.

'_What the FUCK just happened?!' _he thought wildly to himself. He clutched the sword propped against his shoulder in an iron grip. _'Could it be one of Naraku's tricks?' _

He cast a wary eye around the clearing, observing his friends sleeping around a dying fire. _'No,' _Inuyasha thought to himself_ 'it didn't feel like Naraku, or anything else I'm familiar with for that matter, that's for damn sure.'_

Inuyasha fidgeted a bit in an attempt to make his position of leaning against the tree a bit more comfortable. _'But in that case, what the hell was IT anyway? It felt like a… a premonition or something.' _

Inuyasha shivered at the implications. He'd occasionally gotten premonitions before, right before he and his friends had had to face ridiculously powerful foes. But those had all been tiny shivers running down his spine and such; to feel something of this magnitude… _'Something's coming, no denying it.' _He scowled, baring his fangs. _'And whatever it is, it's gonna be big.'_

A small sound drifted through the air. Inuyasha blinked in confusion and turned his head towards the clearing. His eyes softened when he saw that the one making the noise was a teenage girl with long black hair in a Japanese high school uniform mumbling in her sleep. His eyes hardening in determination, Inuyasha leaned his head against the tree and looked skyward.

'_It doesn't matter who or what comes at us, there's no way in hell it'll beat me!' _ He thought confidently to himself. As the stars reflected in his eyes, an unusual thought ran across his mind. Upon registering the thought, Inuyasha's eyes widened, but before he could delve deeper into it, the Japanese girl's mutterings became coherent for a moment.

"Zzz…Inuyasha…sit boy…zzz" SLAM!

Inuyasha lay sprawled out on the ground, his face implanted in the forest floor. "Damn it Kagome…" He grumbled to himself. He spent the rest of the night in the rather uncomfortable position, the ominous thought forgotten.

_Some fight for a chance to regain their loved ones…_

In the land of Fiore, in the town of Magnolia, there is a guild; a guild filled with the greatest mages in all the land. The greatest mage guild in the world: Fairy Tail.

Normally, the guild is known for being the rowdiest around, continuing to party and rough-house into the dead of night. Tonight, however, is one of the few, peaceful respites that Magnolia could obtain.

It was also quiet in a small apartment a short distance away from the Fairy Tail HQ. The apartment was the rented home of Lucy Heartfilia. Or it had _been _peaceful, until a pink haired salamander had jerked upright in his bed, sweating like a pig.

Natsu breathed heavily, looking around the bedroom. He cast his gaze around; looking for whatever woke him up. Seeing and smelling nothing unusual, he heaved a sigh and wiped his forehead with his arm. "That was weird…" He grumbled to himself.

Natsu heard a small yawn to his right. Turning, he saw a small blue cat sitting up, rubbing its eyes tiredly. "Hey Natsu, is everything all right?" Happy asked in a sleepy voice.

Natsu smiled calmly. "Yeah, don't worry Happy, just a bad dream, go back to sleep."

"Aye." The cat mumbled as it lay back down.

When he was sure the Exceed was asleep, Natsu dropped his smile. _'What just happened? I don't think that was magic, and Happy wasn't affected, so…' _Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "Ah well, it probably isn't important." He turned his eyes towards the window and looked at the stars twinkling outside. "Sure is beautiful out there…" Natsu mused to himself.

Suddenly, a thought flashed across his mind. Natsu blinked considering it and then grinned wildly, showing off sharp canines. "That would be exciting!" With that, he fell back onto the pillow, prepared to fall back to sleep.

Until the door was opened and the light was flicked on by a rather peeved pig-tails wearing blonde. "Natsu! Happy!"

Natsu quickly sat up and turned towards the door where Lucy Heartfilia stood. However, she was way different then he had seen her earlier that day. After all, she hadn't been covered in mud and looking like she wanted to rip his head off at breakfast.

"Err, hey Lucy, how's it goin'? Where were you all day?" Natsu was _really _not liking the look Lucy was giving him and Happy.

Lucy ignored the question, continuing to stare at him with a murderous look in her eyes. "Why are you two in my bed?" She growled out.

Natsu broke out in a cold sweat. "W-well, y-you see…" He stammered, "We were on our way home, b-but we passed by your house and thought we c-could…crash here tonight?"

"A-aye!" Agreed a recently awakened and _extremely _nervous Happy.

Lucy's eye twitched. Now, normally whenever she caught one of her guild-mates in her house, she would yell at them a little and then either send them on their way or let them stay awhile; unfortunately for Natsu, Lucy had taken a solo mission earlier that day that required her to help out at a farm.

Considering how she was subsequently covered in mud and varying other brown substances, she was obviously not very happy. Throw in the fact that she was forced to walk home because no one else would give her a lift due to the smell and the result would be a _much_ stressed out celestial mage.

Luckily for her and unfortunately for her friends, she had _just_ found a good outlet for her frustration.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOME!" CRASH! SPLASH!

Natsu and Happy would spend the rest of the night floating down the lazy Magnolia River.

_Some fight because of the fate forced upon them…_

Namimori: a nice, casual, every-day town in Japan. Or at least, that is what it looks like on the surface. To a select few of its residents, one fact is well-known: normality (as well as sanity) is often skin-deep.

And this phrase often holds true in Namimori, considering how on the surface, the said select few seem like (relatively) ordinary teenagers, while in reality they are something far different.

These few are the Tenth Generation of the Vongola Famiglia, the current Mafia family leading the underground. But though this might _sound _threatening, they are actually quite harmless. Well, they were often harmless; most of them anyway.

In any case, though they might seem ordinary (and sane) on the surface, strange things often seem to happen to these would-be Mafioso. And more often than not, they happen to one specific Mafioso. Tsunayoshi Sawada, Tsuna to his friends, No-Good-Tsuna to his tutor, and Tenth Vongola Boss, or Vongola Decimo, to the Mafia world.

Well, Vongola Decimo in training anyway.

Nevertheless, out of all his friends, Tsuna had the worst of luck out of all his friends when it came to unusual occurrences. After all, it's not normal to wake up in the middle of the night panicking is it?

And wake up in a panic he did. Tsuna jerked up in bed hastily, looking around his bedroom to see why he'd suddenly been jerked out of his dream. It was a good dream too; He and Kyoko were just about to-Ahem, well, that's an entirely separate matter, back with the Tenth:

Tsuna breathed heavily, his face covered in sweat, as he twisted around trying to see his whole bedroom. His thoughts were a few steps away from becoming hysterical _'WHAT'S GOING ON, WHAT'S HAPPENING?! IS IT REBORN?! IS SOMEONE ATTACKING ME?! IS REBORN ATTACKING ME!?' _Check that, they were extremely hysterical.

Finally, Tsuna spotted something that helped calmed him down (in a way): It was his home tutor, the infant hitman Reborn, sleeping soundly in his hammock and dressed in his usual sleeping cap. The fact that his eyes were wide open would have made others think he was awake, but the snot-bubble coming from his nose was a huge clue to how conscious he was.

Seeing that his teacher/tormentor was still asleep, Tsuna managed to relax, if only a little. He released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and fell back on his pillow. _'Well,'_ he thought grimly _'Now I know that Reborn isn't putting me through another one of his stupid tests, and I'm not in any immediate danger, or else he would be firing mercilessly at anything that moved. But in that case…' _Tsuna sat up again, worry and fear present in his eyes _'What could have woken me up?'_

Tsuna ran his hands through his hair wearily. _'I hope it isn't anything too dangerous, I don't want to go through something like the Simon fiasco again.' _Tsuna felt a small smile creep onto his face as he remembered the aftermath of that particular incident. _'Well, at least we got out of that one alright. I'm sure that whatever it is we'll get through intact.'_

As Tsuna smiled contentedly, he turned towards his window and watched the night sky. Suddenly, an unbidden thought came to the forefront of his mind; a thought that plastered a much panicked look on his face. "On second thought, I _really _don't want to face whatever it is!" Registering that he had accidentally spoken out loud, Tsuna hastily clapped his hands over his mouth. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

"Go to bed, No-Good-Tsuna." Tsuna whipped his head towards Reborn only to end up staring down the muzzle of the Arcobaleno's gun. BANG!

Tsuna jerked back from the recoil of the Dying Will Bullet hitting his head. His body slowly fell towards the mattress when suddenly…

"SLEEP AS IF I WERE TO DIE!" THUMP! SNORE!

Yes indeed, in Namimori, sanity was _purely _skin-deep.

_Some fight because of the consequences of the past…_

In the great country of Amestris, the word "normal" was extremely relative, mainly because of the fact that alchemy was an ancient practice in Amestris. Normal to an average person would be throwing away anything broken, while to an alchemist, a simple transmutation circle fixes everything right up.

But as strange as the research and practices of alchemists are, the alchemists themselves are still human; and as humans, they still require sleep to function. So at night, Amestris falls into a state of peace and quiet, without any abnormalities or oddities to ruin it.

At least that's what happened on most nights. Tonight, an alchemist was breaking the norm.

But this deviation from the world's day-to-day, or in this case, night-to-night routine was not occurring inside a transmutation circle. In fact, this abnormality was not even remotely caused by alchemy. In fact, it was for all intents and purposes impossible to explain.

What happened was that Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, the youngest state alchemist in Amestrian history, woke up.

Now, normally, waking up seems like the easiest, most common thing in the world; however, what made this instance of awakening unique was that it happened in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Being naturally gifted with intelligence, Ed prided himself on being able to explain a variety of odd situations; so obviously, when he found himself conscious with no reason why, he was vividly panicked.

Ed sprang into an upright position from the log he had been sleeping against, twisting his body around to see what was happening. The results were less than conclusive; absolutely nothing had changed. He was still in a forest, Heinkel and Darius were still propped up against trees, fast asleep, and Greed (or was it Ling?) was still lying on the ground, equally fast asleep.

Seeing nothing was wrong, Ed's actions became a bit calmer, though his brain was still firing at full cylinders. _'What the hell was that? A nightmare?'_ He shook his head, dismissing the notion _'No, I'd remember having a nightmare. A trap? One of the homunculi? What was it!? Think Ed, think!'_

Ed rapped the side of his skull a few times in an attempt to clear his thoughts, but promptly stopped when the pain was far more severe than he had anticipated. The answer was obvious to him immediately though: He'd been hitting his head with his right hand.

Blows are commonly much more severe when dealt by a fist made of metal.

His mood greatly darkened, Ed leaned back against the log and shadowed his eyes with the prosthetic, looking at it sadly. He remembered the pain he had felt when he had gained this new hand…as well as that he had felt when he had lost the original. Ed stared into the eyes of his reflection on the polished metal, lost in his thoughts. _'We've gone through a lot…'_

Ed saw the stars shining brightly up above. He stared past his metal limb and watched them glitter brightly, his eyes still filled with pain. _'And we're going to go through a lot more…'_

Suddenly, he remembered two figures. One was tall, towering above him, and though he was encased in a suit of armour, he still managed to convey a feeling of hope. The other was a girl, with long blond hair, a kind smile, and blue eyes twinkling with happiness.

Ed's eyes widened at the memories. _'Alphonse…Winry…'_ His eyes gained a spark of energy. Clenching his metal fist, he swung it crashing down onto the ground beside him. _'Well, no matter what happens, we'll pull through, I'm sure of it!'_

Staring into the night with new-found determination, Ed was completely caught off guard by a sudden thought leaping to the forefront of his mind; a thought that replaced confidence with worry. "I hope not, God I hope not…" he murmured to himself, wishing for a way to distract himself from the thought.

Apparently he was heard, though not in the intended manner. To Ed's right, Ling (or was it Greed?) shifted in his sleep. "Go to sleep you damn midget." He mumbled lazily. Yes, definitely Greed.

Ed felt his temper rising, as well as a vein throbbing on his forehead. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC MIDGET EASILY CRUSHED UNDERFOOT YOU BASTARD?!" He roared.

Greed flipped over to face him, his features set in annoyance. "I DIDN'T SAY ANY OF THAT YOU LITTLE BASTARD, BUT AT THIS POINT I WISH I DID!"

"WHY YOU-!" Ed and Greed were cut off by two rocks simultaneously slamming into their faces, courtesy of their recently awakened comrades.

"WILL YOU TWO IDIOTS JUST SHUT UP AND GO BACK TO SLEEP!?"

"YEAH, IT'S PRACTICALLY MIDNIGHT YOU MORONS!"

Ed and Greed exchanged a heated glare before looking away simultaneously.

"Fine…"

"Tch. Whatever…"

With that, they all settled in, went back to sleep, and let the world continue on its nightly course.

_Some fight in order to protect what they love…_

Karakura Town was a small town in Japan. It seemed normal on the surface, but there were often rumours of strange occurrences transpiring; rumours such as claw marls being gouged into stone walls, buildings being crushed for absolutely no reason, and explosions happening out of thin air.

Of course, there were many explanations to these strange events: some said that the claw marks were from wild bears, that the buildings were structurally unsound, and the explosions were simply spontaneous combustion.

However, each of these explanations was completely and utterly false.

The truth to these events was far more logical: They were caused by undead spirit-warriors known as Soul Reapers fighting evil, ghost-eating spirit-monsters known as Hollows so that the Hollows could be exorcised and sent to the afterlife.

Definitely a plausible explanation.

Not all of the sword-wielding Soul Reapers were undead though. In fact, Karakura Town's own Ichigo Kurosaki was a Substitute Soul Reaper, fully alive and in charge of protecting Karakura Town's population, alive and dead, from the horrors known as Hollows.

Ever since Ichigo had been ripped from his usual life as a high-school student, he had been subjected to many a strange and/or awkward situation.

However, out of all his experience in the insane life of a Soul Reaper, not once had he ever woken up out of the blue like he just had.

Ichigo sat upright his bed, staring at the wall opposite him. He gasped for air for a minute before he finally calmed himself down. Slowly, he looked around and observed his room. The closet in which one of his friends was currently sleeping was still closed, the stuffed lion on his desk was still snoring, and the trap he had set for his dad in case he snuck in was undisturbed.

No, nothing the least bit of the ordinary.

Ichigo sighed and swung his body so that his legs were hanging off his bed. He sat there for a few moments, eyes contemplative. _'OK, what just happened? Nothing's wrong, I don't feel any spiritual pressure, Rukia and Kon are still asleep…I honestly have no idea what's going on…again.'_

Ichigo closed his eyes in frustration and rubbed the bridge of his nose. _'Let's see…' _He thought _'I did get a sort of…feeling. Yeah, now I remember, it was like a premonition… must have been a hell of a premonition for it to wake me up like that.' _Ichigo lay back in bed with his hands folded under his head. _'In that case, the real question is: what could have possibly caused it? It sure picked a hell of a time to show up, considering how we still have to deal with Aizen and the Espada.'_

Ichigo sat up and looked out his window at the stars spread out across the night. _'Well, whatever it is, it better not cause any trouble, or I'll deal with it, that's for sure.'_

Suddenly, a thought surfaced in his mind. It wasn't a big thought, it was a phrase, a simple sentence; but the implications of that phrase were earth-shattering. Ichigo's eyes widened at the thought. _'That figures, it would be just my luck.'_

Resigned to the strange thought, Ichigo lay back down and fell asleep, while all the while events of inconceivable proportions were preparing to occur.

_And finally, some fight, simply because someone has to…_

In the middle of nowhere, on the lip of a cliff, jutting out into oblivion, there stood a man. The man's features were indiscernible in the midnight-darkness.

The only break from the night were the stars shining ever so brightly above, and a city; a city far, far on the horizon, with lights shining high into the darkness, yet not ruining even a single sparkling light in the heavens.

The man continued to stare off towards the city, yet not truly looking at it. His mind was lost, wandering through his memories and thoughts; remembering what he had done, contemplating what he was planning to do, and wondering what would come next.

Suddenly, he broke out of his thoughts, interrupted by several figures appearing out of nowhere in a line behind him, nearly invisible in the dark.

The man did not stop looking at the far off city as he addressed the individuals. "Is everything ready?" He inquired.

One of the people reached up and adjusted his glasses in the dark. "Yes, the spell is ready to be activated at any moment."

Another fiddled with an object near his eye. "And my machine is well prepared as well. We will be able to activate them on when you say so."

The man nodded, glad at least that part was unimpeded. "And the men?"

Two figures standing side-by-side glanced at each other, than back towards the man. "Our troops are prepared for combat, should the need arise." One, a man, stated simply. "Which we sincerely hope it won't" The other finished in a female voice.

The person with glasses nodded. "My armies are as well."

"And my legions are primed for action." The second man concurred.

A slightly hunched figure shifted his weight. "Our warriors await the signal to battle." He stated in a deep voice.

Another person crossed his arms, a slight clanking sound arising from his armour "As do ours, though with more enthusiasm then I'd prefer." He said, a slight hiss present in his voice.

One of the figures tugged his hat down so that its wide brim covered his eyes. "The Clans are prepared, though quite reluctantly I might add."

The man turned his head slightly so that he was facing the group. "And what about you," He inquired. "Are you all ready for whatever tomorrow might bring?"

One of the figures slammed a metal-clad fist into his open palm. "You know us, always ready for a good fight." He said solemnly.

The man turned his head back towards the city, his head bowed. "Yes, but are we prepared for this? This is the greatest endeavour we have ever faced. If this goes wrong-"

"Oh puhleeze!" exclaimed a high-pitched voice, coming from an excessively short person. Another short person continued "Do we really have to endure your self-doubting tirade?" "Because news flash, win or lose, it doesn't matter!" a third said. A fourth and final midget finished "We can't back down, not here and not now!"

Another person nodded "We're ready, and we're not scared. Come hell or high-water, this is going down, and we'll be at the very epicentre of it. And we will make it out."

The man nodded, knowing the words to be true. "Very well then, in that case, let's go and make the final preparations, shall we? After all," He turned towards the group, fire alight in his eyes, "Tomorrow is a big day."

Everyone present gained a wild smirk or a content grin on their face before pumping their fists towards the sky and yelling out "FOR THE ORDER!"

The man smiled behind his face mask. "For the Order." He concurred.

As they all stood there, looking at each other, brimming with energy and unable to wait, they could only think of a single phrase to sum up what they felt.

_For whatever reason that they fought at first, this generation was about to discover an entirely new reason to fight. They were about to enter into something larger and grander than they could ever have imagined._

_At that moment in time, the strongest members of the generation had a thought, a single, simple thought of immense proportions, a thought that was about to occur, no matter what tried to stop it._

_The thought was a single phrase:_

'_Tomorrow, nothing will ever be the same.'_

_These are the stories detailing the adventures of the newest generation in an organization that defended justice._

_These are the stories of the generation that ended the war._

_These are the Chronicles from the Order of Stars._

**To be continued…**


	2. Chapter2: Who, What, Where, When and Why

**Chapter Two: Who, What, Where, When and Why, but None The Wiser**

**A.N. Well, here's chapter two, where hopefully things will pick up the pace. As always, Read, Review, Enjoy! **

**Editor's note: This is AFTER the Kazekage's rescue, but BEFORE the bridge incident! So no Sai.**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1**

**Location: Classified**

"Are you absolutely certain this will work?"

The man sighed exasperatedly. This was the third time his bespectacled friend had asked him that since they had arrived and it was beginning to irk him. He looked up from the holographic screen he had been typing on and looked over at his longtime companion.

"Yes I'm sure. I've run the simulations and crunched the numbers an insane amount of times and I'm doing it again right now!" He glanced at the glowing book sitting in his partner's lap, all the while fiddling with a piece of metal covering what would have been his right eye. "Honestly, I should be asking if the magic you have planned will hold up!"

The four-eyed man twisted his body to look at the cyclops, indignation present in his eyes. "How dare you!? I will have you know, this is the sleekest and most eloquent array of runes I have ever created! I know you're adept at technology, but compared to most of your other creations this one is extremely low-brow!"

'_He's got a point there.' _The metal-eyed man thought, looking his machine over. It stood on a tripod. The legs were connected to the base of a large bronze tube, which was just short of two dozen feet long, had the circumference of an oil drum.

Sticking out of the right side of the tube was a bronze chair that was facing the same direction as the tube. A bronze keyboard was also sticking out in front of the chair, reminiscent of a guard bar on a roller coaster.

The entirety of the bronze tube was covered in strange runic markings, all seemingly originating from a pair of hand prints outlined by the markings. The hand prints were on the side of the tube opposite the chair. There were two pieces of bronze jutting out beneath the hand prints, acting as platforms for someone to stand on.

There was a large disk of bronze attached to the butt of the tube, with glowing blue concentric circles inscribed within. Another platform was connected to the bottom most part of the disk.

"Still though, you're one to talk. I've seen you make arrays miles wide, or with lots more detail. Compared to those, this one is rather…mundane."

The glasses-wearing man crossed his arms and leveled a glare at the one-eyed man. "Well _of course _it's not as efficient as I'd like it to be," he groused, "but I had to scale it down for the same reason you did! We can't be detected; too much power and we'll be caught with our hands in the million-dollar cookie jar."

"Like the Giza incident all over again," the one-eyed man stated.

Four-eyes shivered. "Please don't remind me of that debacle... I can still feel that dog's teeth chewing my-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get the picture," good old one-eye quickly interrupted. "Anyway, my calculations are done. We're green across the board. You?"

The bespectacled man quickly shook himself out of the traumatic memory and checked the writing in his book. "Everything is stable. All we're waiting for-"

"Has arrived," a man with metal gloves interrupted, walking up behind the two. "So now that I'm here, how can I help?"

The two men took the third one's sudden appearance in stride, seemingly unsurprised at his sudden appearance. The one-eyed man answered him. "We need your help firing the cannon."

The gloved man tilted his head in confusion. "Um, I'm good with tech, but I don't think that I can operate this thing."

The man with the glasses shook his head. "You misunderstand; because we had to keep this thing hidden, we couldn't give it a strong enough power source. The energy emission would have been detected if it was as big as I would have wanted it to be. We designed the disc on the back to convert kinetic energy to electrical and magical energy."

The gloved man nodded. "Now _that _makes much more sense. So how much force should I use?"

The one-eyed man gained a glazed look in his eye as he stared at nothing for a few moments before he regained focus. "I'd say as much strength as you have right now."

The gloved man nodded in affirmation. One-eye continued. "Gentlemen, the hour is upon us. Get to your positions and prepare to fire the package."

"Right."

"Agreed."

The trio sprang into action. Quickly the cyclops nimbly swung himself into the metal chair and began typing on the keyboard, observing the holographic displays that appeared. The glasses wearing man jumped onto the platform underneath the bronze device and placed his hands in the hand prints. The second he did the markings covering the whole of the device lit up, glowing in a variety of colors while several symbols were swirling around the man. Finally, the man in the metal gear stood at the rear of the cannon, awaiting his signal.

The four-eyed man observed the symbols swirling around him intently, gaining information from the illogical shapes. "All arrays are stable, package is primed for delivery."

The one-eyed man was equally focused on his task, glancing between all of the glowing screens. "All systems are fully functional. The cannon is ready to fire." He glanced over his shoulder. "Are you ready?"

The man flexed his metal-clad fingers, his feet set in a stable position. "Just say when."

The one-eyed man nodded and tapped on the keyboard in front of him. "Receptors primed for energy influx. Target is locked on. Firing cannon in three…" He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Two…" The bespectacled man pushed his hands harder into the outlines, the runes glowing even brighter.

"One…" The metal clad man narrowed his eyes and drew back his fist.

"NOW!" The fist slammed into the disk, causing the entire structure to shudder. The cannon then jolted back as a beam of white light shot out of its front, illuminating the dark for a moment before it dissipated.

The cannon's barrel was still smoking when the one-eyed man turned to look at his companion. "Well?" he inquired.

The four-eyed man closed his eyes for a few moments, concentrating intensely. He then opened his eyes, a triumphant smirk upon his lips. "The package is away." The other two men let out sighs of relief.

The one-eyed man then jumped down from his seat. "Well, let's get out of here. Big day tomorrow and all." His two friends followed his lead before the gloved man stopped.

"Wait, what are we going to do about the cannon?" Without breaking his stride, the one-eyed man lifted his right hand above his head, a small rectangular device grasped within. He pressed a button upon it.

_Beep-beep_. _Boom_! The two men whirled around at the noise behind them only to behold a smoldering heap of flaming heap of scrap-metal. The men stared dumbfounded for a few moments before the bespectacled man's shoulders slumped

"Really? Just really?" He inquired in a tired voice.

The one eyed man's only response was to tilt his head back and laugh at the stars.

* * *

_At that moment, in ten different worlds, showers of light fell from the sky, landing near several sleeping individuals_.

* * *

**Location: Village Hidden in the Leaves**

It was a brand new day in the Leaf Village. Birds were singing, people were waking up, and the sun was rising over the Hokage monument.

One ninja in particular was still half asleep as he was walking down the main road. Naruto Uzumaki yawned, heading off to get his breakfast. Of course, it was ramen at one of his favorite spots in the whole village. Ichiraku Ramen, the best damn ramen shop in the Elemental Nations – at least in Naruto's opinion.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he walked on, mulling over what happened the previous night. "Jeez, that was so weird," he mumbled under his breath. "As if the first shock wasn't enough, then 'nothing will ever be the same'? Nothing will ever be normal for me, that's for sure."

Suddenly he smelled a heavenly, amazing scent in the wind. Recognizing it instantly, Naruto grinned wolfishly, borderline foxily. _'Well,' _he thought blissfully. _'At least I know this will never change!'_

Naruto immediately broke into a full-tilt sprint, dashing down the street until he finally skidded to a stop in front of the small shop that was giving off the godly scent. He jumped inside and sat on one of the stools quicker than most of the onlookers present believed possible.

"Morning Ayame, morning old man Teuchi!"

The father and daughter duo grinned happily as their favorite cash cow- '_Cough cough I mean customer!_'

"Good morning Naruto," Teuchi replied. "The usual three miso ramen?"

"Better make it five, I had a weird night," Naruto said, rubbing his head sheepishly.

Teuchi cocked an eyebrow in curiosity but wrote it off as a shinobi thing. "Ayame!" He called back into the kitchen, "Five miso ra-!" Clunk!

Teuchi and Naruto blinked in surprise when Ayame placed the five bowls in front of Naruto. "Here's your ramen, enjoy!" she stated happily. She then noticed their baffled faces. "What?" she inquired inquisitively. "Naruto's stomach is like clockwork! How could I not be prepared?"

Accepting the answer, Naruto fell upon the bowls and showed no mercy to the ramen enemy!

Teuchi and Ayame sweatdropped as they watched. _'I'll never get used to this,_'they both thought.

While he was feasting, Naruto failed to notice a figure walking up behind him until she called out. "Enjoying your breakfast, Naruto?"

Finishing the last bowl, Naruto grinned and turned around to greet the familiar face. "Good morning Sakura!"

The pink-haired kunoichi smiled cheerfully at her teammate. "Good morning to you too Naruto. How have things been?"

Naruto's thoughts flashed back to the night before, but he decided to simply plaster a smile on his face, and said. "Ah nothing, business as usual. You?"

Sakura frowned. "Actually, that's why I'm here. Lady Tsunade wants to see us about the oncoming mission. Are you almost done eating?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I just finished. Let me just pay." He turned to Teuchi. "500 ryo, right?" Teuchi nodded happily.

Naruto reached into his pocket to retrieve the funds, but suddenly froze, his eyes widening in shock. His hand had brushed something, something odd, something unfamiliar, something he most certainly had _not_ placed in that pocket; something that had inexplicably made him feel as though he had stuck his hand in a socket.

Grasping the object, Naruto slowly pulled it out of his pocket, and stared at it in disbelief. It was an envelope. A pure white envelope, no wrinkles or creases present. The envelope was sealed with a strange seal made of black wax. The seal was shaped like a five pointed star overlapping an upside-down, similarly shaped star, so that only the arms were visible. Written above the seal in neat handwriting were two words that shocked the blonde Genin most of all: _Naruto Uzumaki._

"-ruto...Naruto!" Naruto was snapped out of his daze by Sakura shouting at him.

"Huh, wha-? I'm OK!"

"Clearly," Sakura grumbled. She pointed at the letter. "Naruto, what is that?"

"I dunno..." he replied. "I didn't have it on me when I left my apartment."

He began contemplating where he could have acquired it when suddenly...

"Naruto!" Ayame called. Naruto turned to face her and immediately regretted it.

Ayame was smiling kindly at the blonde Genin, the picture of happiness... a picture marred by an extremely menacing aura and a stainless steel ladle being tapped in her hand. "You are going to pay for that ramen." She strangled the ladles neck, making the steel creak ominously. "_Right_?"

The blond gulped and immediately began desperately scouring his pockets for the necessary 500, leaving the letter temporarily forgotten on the counter. With mounting horror, Naruto realized he had forgotten his wallet at home. Sweating profusely, the doomed Genin called out to his teammate.

"H-hey Sakura, c-could I borrow 500 ryo? I-I'll pay you back!" he pleaded desperately.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the so-called knucklehead-ninja's predicament and reached for her wallet. "Fine, but you should really keep track of your-!" She cut off her admonishments in the middle of her sentence, eyes widened in shock from what she had discovered.

Naruto squirmed in his seat, pinned by Ayame's deceivingly kind gaze. Panicking, he whipped around to face his friend. "Sakura, what's the hold-!" The words died in his mouth when he saw what was clutched in her hands.

An envelope, a seemingly ordinary envelope that, someway, somehow, was radiating an aura of inestimable importance.

"Where did you get that?" Naruto whispered in an awed voice.

"I-I don't know," Sakura responded in a quiet voice. "But Naruto, look at this!" She turned the envelope towards him, and Naruto's heart nearly stopped.

On the seal of the envelope was a seal depicting the same ten-sided star. Written above it, in the neat, familiar handwriting, was a name.

_Sakura Haruno._

Slowly, Naruto reached behind him, grabbed his envelope off the counter, and held it near the one gripped tightly in Sakura's hand. No mistake, the two envelopes were identical, the sole difference being the names.

"Naruto, what are these things? How did we get them?" Sakura asked.

"I have no clue," Naruto responded curiosity and a twinge of fear in his eyes. Suddenly, he remembered something. _'Tomorrow, nothing will ever be the same'. 'Could this be what it meant?' _Naruto thought frantically.

"I don't know where those things came from either," Ayame intervened in a sweet voice. "But if I don't get paid soon, _someone's_ going to be brained!" This was said – more like snarled – in a far more _bloodthirsty _tone.

Snapping out of her daze, Sakura quickly retrieved the 500 ryo and paid the probably homicidal chef. Ayame smiled pleasantly, the murderous aura being replaced by a bright and happy one. "Thank you for eating at Ichiraku Ramen, have a pleasant day!"

By the time she was finished, all she was speaking to was an empty stall. She beamed happily. '_I__ still got that spark!_'

In the back of the stall Teuchi was crying tears of joy. '_She's so much like her mother! I'm so proud!_'

Meanwhile, up the street, the remnants of team seven were propped up against a building, attempting to catch their breath from their tactical retreat.

"Why…do you… eat there?!" panted Sakura.

"She's…not so bad…if you pay her!" Naruto gasped.

"Well, don't you two look energetic today!" a voice called out behind them.

The two Genin whipped around, their fatigue swiftly forgotten in their surprise, unable to believe their eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei?!" they shouted in surprise.

Indeed, there stood Kakashi Hatake, Copy-Ninja of the Leaf, in all his one-eyed glory.

"Miss me?" he asked pleasantly, tilting his head to the side and closing his sole visible eye in his usual eye-smile.

"But-but-but, you were supposed to have bed rest for a week due to chakra exhaustion!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Lady Tsunade used an experimental medical jutsu on me to get me back on my feet."

"Wait, if Granny Tsunade has a jutsu for chakra exhaustion, why isn't she using it on the other ninja in the hospital?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi's arm froze. "That…would be because of the side effects."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What side-effects?" she asked slowly.

At this point, the fingers on Kakashi's raised arm were twitching violently as he stood very, _very_ still. "The healing violently stresses out the muscles so that the body is one big cramp." The Jounin's fingers went stiff. "…and my last dose of anesthesia just wore off. Help…"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Hold on a second," she said, and walked up to her sensei, fishing a needle from one of her kunai pouches.

Kakashi sighed in relief. "Thank you Sakur-ARGH!" he yelped in pain as Sakura mercilessly plunged the needle into his shoulder.

Sakura smiled kindly. "Consider this payback for the books and tardiness, _sensei,_" she said pleasantly, clapping – more like slamming – her hand on the man's back.

Kakashi was caught between whimpering from the pain or growling at the annoying blond that was laughing vividly in the background.

**One minute later…**

After Kakashi had recovered and subsequently suppressed the memories of the incident, he continued his conversation with his students. "So, what had you two in such a panic?"

The two Genin shivered from the memory. Sakura swallowed loudly. "A homicidal ramen waitress."

Kakashi's eyes widened in realization before he spoke to Naruto. "Forgot your wallet did you?" Naruto nodded vigorously. Kakashi chuckled a bit at his Genin's antics.

"Anyway," he said, "I believe you two forgot something in your hurry, right?"

The two gained a puzzled look on their faces before Sakura remembered. "Lady Tsunade wants to see us!" she remembered.

Kakashi nodded happily. "That's right. She needs to see us immediately." He reached into his back pocket so that he could get his usual reading material. "Well, let's get go-!"

Suddenly, he trailed off, his visible eye widening in shock. This familiar action caused Naruto and Sakura to equally halt.

'_No…_'

'_I__t can't be!_'

But it was, for out of his pocket, the Jounin drew a familiar envelope, exactly like theirs. Same pristine condition, same star-shaped seal and same neat handwriting with the holders name on it.

Kakashi's brow furrowed in confusion. "What is this?" he thought aloud.

"We don't know," Naruto said quietly. "But..." he and Sakura drew their envelopes out of their pockets and showed them to a shocked Kakashi. "We have them too."

Kakashi was speechless for a few moments before he got a determined look on his face... well, at least his eye. "We need to show these to Tsunade, immediately." With that he turned around and started running towards the Hokage tower, his students hot on his trail.

**Location: Hokage Office**

The door to the office slammed inward. "Granny-OW!" Naruto's exclamation was cut off by an empty sake bottle clipping his skull.

"Naruto," Tsunade Senju, Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, and probably the bustiest woman in the Elemental Nations, growled fiercely. "First, I told you to stop calling me that, and second, can't you see you're interrupting a meeting?!"

Looking around, Naruto finally noticed the three other occupants of the room: the stoic Shino Aburame, the boisterous Kiba Inuzuka and his mega-mutt Akamaru, and the ever shy and reserved Hinata Hyuuga. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Um... oops?"

Hinata blushed upon seeing her crush. '_Naruto..._'

Naruto noticed Hinata's flushed face and quickly got close.

"Hey Hinata, do you have a fever?"

Maybe a bit too close. _Thunk._ "Hinata!"

The other occupants of the room sweatdropped. _'Is he honestly that stupid?' _was the shared thought.

Sakura sighed. "Move aside Naruto, I'll get her up," she said as she moved forwards, her hand already glowing green.

Moving back from Hinata's prone form, Naruto turned to Tsunade. "Er, sorry for bursting in Gra-ah, I mean Lady Tsunade!" He corrected as she narrowed her eyes and reached for another bottle. "But this is really important!"

"I imagine it is Naruto," Tsunade said. "But this takes precedence," Tsunade gestured towards three objects on her desk.

Three envelopes, lined side by side with three names on them. _Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, _and of course, _Hinata Hyuuga._

"Team eight found these within their clothes this morning despite them not initially being there. We were about to discuss…" Tsunade trailed off when she noticed the shocked looks on the faces of team seven. "Do you know something about this?" she demanded.

"About as much as you do…" Kakashi said quietly as he and his students drew out their envelopes to the shock of the others.

Shino adjusted his glasses, albeit with a slight shake in his hand. "This makes even more illogical. Why? Because you are a Jounin, and should have easily noticed it."

"Actually, it makes perfect sense. I had that thing on me all morning, but neither me, Akamaru, nor anyone in the whole damn compound was able to smell it!" Kiba said, his dog barking in agreement.

The revived Hyuuga heiress nodded as well. "Y-y-yes, and n-n-nobody in the H-H-Hyuuga compound n-n-noticed either, b-but I p-passed several who w-w-were using the B-B-Byakugan," she stated nervously.

Tsunade furrowed her brow. "Put them on my desk. We have no idea what they are. Best no one touches them."

Hastily, team seven placed their envelopes alongside the others. "Now then, what should we-!" She was interrupted by someone hastily knocking on the door. Frowning at the interruption, she turned to Kakashi. "Let them in."

When the door opened, in walked three memorable figures. Ino Yamanaka, Chouji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara, known as both the second generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, also as team ten.

Naruto brightened upon seeing two faces he hadn't seen in a while. "Chouji, Ino, longtime no see you guys!" he exclaimed happily.

Chouji smiled seeing his old friend. "Hey Naruto, didn't know you were back!"

Ino was equally pleased at seeing her fellow blonde. "Good to have you back Naruto,"

Shikamaru sighed loudly at the greetings. "Troublesome blondes… I know it's good to see each other again but aren't you two forgetting why we're here?" This statement quickly caused the whole room to sober up.

"And why _are _you here exactly?" Tsunade queried.

"Because, this morning," Ino said, "We found these in our pockets." At this statement, her and her teammates each drew out envelopes. Pristine, star-sealed envelopes.

"You see," Chouji said to the stunned room, "We just put our hands in our pockets and-"

"-There they were, even though you had no idea they were there in the first place," Sakura finished numbly.

Chouji blinked in surprise. "Y-yeah, how did you know?"

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed. "I guess it has to do with the ones already on the desk, right?"

His teammates reeled back in shock when they finally noticed the envelopes in question. "S-six of them?" Ino stuttered.

"Well, this can't be good," Chouji whispered.

Tsunade sighed at her mounting headache. "Put those things on the desk. And be careful!"

After team ten had complied, Tsunade picked up where she had left off. "Now, as I was saying, what-" Once again she was interrupted by someone knocking on the door.

Gritting her teeth in exasperation, she leveled a glare at Kakashi, who got the idea and hastily opened the door. As soon as the door was opened, in came three _more _memorable Leaf ninja. Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji Hyuuga, the members of team Gai.

"Good morning lady-!" Lee's most youthful shout was cut off by Tsunade's raised hand.

"Lee, unless you have a damn good reason for interrupting my meeting and making my migraine even worse, get out before I throw you out," she growled.

Hastily covering her teammate's mouth, Tenten slapped a very scared grin on her face and attempted to calm down her idol. "S-sorry about him Lady Tsunade, but this is very important."

"Indeed," Neji concurred as he stepped forward. "This morning, as we were training-"

"You discovered mysterious envelopes in your pockets that you had never seen before?" a bored Shikamaru droned on.

Neji whipped his head around. "... yes. How did you know?"

"Because apparently these troublesome things are all the rage lately," Shikamaru said snarkily as he gestured towards the desk.

Tenten's eyes widened in shock. "Well that's not good…"

"Yes, it is most unyouthful!" exclaimed Lee.

Tsunade kneaded the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Just…put the damn things on the desk."

With that done, Tsunade tried _once more _to continue. "Now, as I was saying-" Once more, someone knocked on the door, but on the first knock, Tsunade had stood up, barged over to the door, and practically ripped it off its hinges.

Standing in the doorway was the shell-shocked, sexy, and _still_ tragically single Jounin, Anko Mitarashi.

"Uh…" she said dumbly.

"Mysterious envelope in your pocket?" growled Tsunade.

Anko jerked back. "How did you- GAH!" Before she could finish her question, Tsunade had yanked her into the office, door slamming shut behind them.

"Put it on the damn desk and let's be done with it already," Tsunade said, irritated as she slumped back into her chair before she took a swig from one of her sake bottles.

Quickly complying, Anko slapped her envelope on the desk and backed off before she earned anymore of the Hokage's ire. Noticing the other occupants of the room, she smiled and greeted them pleasantly.

"Hey brats, hey pervert!" Well, her version of pleasant anyway…

"Hi crazy snake lady!" Naruto greeted, a greeting that forced him to hastily dodge a kunai being lodged in his skull.

Finished with her drinking, Tsunade _once more_ started talking. "Now, _as I was saying_!" she shouted loudly whilst glaring at the door, as though daring anybody to so much as attempt to interrupt them.

"We all know how these things were found, and for those of you not clued in yet," she glared at Naruto and Lee when she said this, "They're practically impossible to discover, not showing up on the Byakugan, or through enhanced scent. Any questions?" Silence. "Good. Now then, I believe one of the more obvious questions to ask right now is this; what the hell are we going to do with these things?"

Anko rubbed her chin in thought. "Well, we could try showing it to a few of our guests back at T & I, maybe they know. And if they refuse to cooperate," she grinned savagely, "I can try and..._reason_ with them."

Almost shivering at the brutal thoughts clearly running through the snake mistress, Kakashi added his thoughts. "We could also call Kankuro from Sand and use his puppets to safely open them."

Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement. "For now though, we should get them somewhere secure, and keep both them and the recipients, myself included, under guard, in case the person who planted the troublesome things is still watching us."

While the rest of the room had been listening to the ideas being thrown out, Naruto had tuned out of the conversation. Unfortunately, his patience had finally worn thin.

"Gah, enough already, let's just open them and see what's inside!" And before anyone could stop him, he'd snatched up the letter with his name on it from the desk and torn it open.

_Rip_!

The other occupants if the room had hastily taken cover behind the sparse furniture in the room and were ready when...nothing, absolutely nothing happened. All there was was Naruto standing in the center of the room with an opened envelope in his hands and a confused expression on his face.

"Um, what's wrong?" he asked... right before Sakura punched him. In the face. Hard. "Ow! What was that for?!" he shouted, pulling his face from the floor.

"That was for being an absolute moron! What if that had been a bomb or something?!" an angry Sakura retorted, shaking her fist threateningly.

"But it wasn't a bomb, so I've just saved us from wasting a lot of time over nothing!" Naruto countered desperately.

Standing up from where he had hidden, Shikamaru heaved a heavy sigh. "As troublesome as he is, Naruto is right. The thing is already open, might as well look inside."

"On it!" Naruto said as he started reaching inside the envelope.

"Yes, we might as well look inside, despite the possibility of it containing something extremely deadly… and therefore troublesome," Shikamaru continued in his usual lazy tone.

This gave Naruto reason to pause. Gulping in sudden fear, he hastily formed a Shadow Clone and handed the envelope off to it as he took cover behind the desk.

With as much trepidation as the original, the clone reached into the envelope and withdrew a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, the clone scanned the paper before sighing in relief. "It's a letter!"

"Really?! Let me see!" Jumping from behind the desk, Naruto snatched the letter from his clone's hands before dispelling him. Naruto gained a confused look on his face before shaking it off. '_Why do I think I know part of the letter already? Ah well, I'll think about it later._'

"Is it really…just a letter?" Sakura asked.

"Troublesome…all that worry for nothing," Shikamaru complained.

"No," Naruto said, his serious tone of voice shocking the others. Looking at him, they realized that he looked different, as though he had become more attentive. "This is definitely not nothing."

"N-Naruto...?" Hinata asked.

"Here, look at it." And with that, he handed it off to Tsunade who, upon scanning the letter, widened her eyes in shock.

"Th-this is-?!"

"Yeah, I know." While on the outside he was calm, internally he felt close to a panic attack. '_How? How the hell do they know about the damn fox?!_'

"So what does it say?" Ino asked leaning forward, eager for a piece of gossip.

"No!" Naruto exclaimed in a panic as he snatched the letter from Tsunade's hand and hid it in his jacket. This left the others extremely stunned.

"N-Naruto, w-what's wrong?" Hinata asked quietly.

Naruto broke out in a cold sweat. "Guh...um, I-I, er..," He was at a loss for words. He couldn't very well tell them he had a demon inside himself, but he couldn't explain his reaction.

Thankfully, Tsunade came to his rescue. "Leave him alone. That letter contains extremely personal information about Naruto," she reprimanded, her eyes narrowing.

Ino flushed with embarrassment before she turned to Naruto. "S-sorry Naruto, I had no idea! Is it that bad?"

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah," he stated solemnly. "It's really important."

Shikamaru frowned. "If it's really that bad for Naruto.." He turned towards the letters. "Then how bad is it in the others?"

Everyone present in the room shared a look before Lee decided to speak up. And by speak up, that means shout. "YOSH! The only way we will ever know is if we open them ourselves!"

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "Everyone, pick up your letters and read them. No one is allowed to read anyone else's without their _express_ permission. Once you're done, we'll see what parts correspond. Agreed?"

Everyone expressed a sign of understanding. "Then get to it."

Slowly, the rooms individuals took their respective letters. Many looks were shared before finally, the letters were torn open.

The reactions were... diverse. Most of them stumbled as their legs became weak. Others tensed suddenly, nearly tearing the paper. Kakashi's hand twitched, while Anko slowly grabbed the side of her neck. Shock was apparent on everyone's faces.

"H-how…!?" Ino stuttered.

"This is impossible. Why? Because no one else knew about this," Shino stated, his usually calm facade broken by the cold sweat glistening on what little of his skin was visible.

Anko's reaction was a bit more violent. "How the hell do they know this?!" she snarled at Tsunade, fury burning in her eyes.

Tsunade met the angry stare with cold indifference. "Stand down Anko. That's exactly what we're trying to figure out." She turned towards the rest of the room. "Is everyone alright now?"

By that time, the room's occupants had had time to deal with what they had read and gave signs of affirmation. "Good. Now let's see what these things have in common."

Everyone in the room snapped out of their reveries and paid attention. "First off, the handwriting in the letter is the same as that on the envelope, correct?" Everyone gave various remarks of confirmation.

"Because of that, we can tell that these letters were all written by the same person," Shikamaru mused before he sighed, though he was obviously tense. "Troublesome…"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "And yet this person keeps referring to himself in plural, right?" Everyone agreed again.

"The writer does say that he is part of a larger organization," Kakashi stated.

"He also says that they've been watching us for a long time," Sakura said.

"A-and he also s-says t-that his organization is i-impressed by our strength a-and…" Hinata trailed off.

"His organization wants us to join them," Neji finished for her.

"He also says that if we accept, we should all show up at a specified place at the right time," Anko said.

"And that we should pack for a long time," Tenten added.

"That this is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Kiba said.

"They also all have the same troublesome signature," Shikamaru complained.

"The Order of Stars," Naruto concluded.

Everyone stood in a quiet unease, no one daring to mention how all the letters alluded to secret, emotional, and not to mention extremely private parts of the readers' lives.

Finally, Naruto broke the silence. "So what do we do now!?"

Sakura was swift to reprimand Naruto. "Are you serious!? It's obvious that we can't actually go!"

"I know that!" Naruto defended, "But in that case what _do _we do?"

"Actually, I think that you all _should _go," Tsunade interjected, causing everyone in the room to stare at her incredulously. Before anyone could protest, she held up her hand.

"We already know that whoever or whatever this organization is, it is incredibly powerful. They managed to break into a secure ninja village, plant untraceable letters on the persons of some of our most effective ninja without their knowledge, and have extensive, private information. It's safe to assume that if they were hostile they most likely would have taken action long before now. There is no guarantee that they mean us no harm, but with the ninja going on this mission, they would be hard-pressed to injure you all. At the very least, this way we can discover what they want."

Everyone was quiet as they considered her words before they all nodded in acceptance at her words.

"Alright, that's the plan," Naruto said "But again, what do we do now?"

"Go home, all of you," Tsunade said. "Pack your gear, enough for an extended mission at the least. We don't know how long you'll be gone, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. As of this moment, this is considered an S-rank mission. You may tell your families that you will most likely be gone for a while, but no more. Meet at the Academy ten minutes from midnight, and then proceed to the rendezvous point. Am I understood?"

"Yes Lady Tsunade!" Everyone, even Naruto, exclaimed as they snapped into a salute.

"Dismissed." With that, everyone rushed out, heading to their respective homes to prepare for whatever the future held in store for them.

Left alone, Tsunade sat in silence contemplating the recent events, save from a different angle. '_Why? Why the _hell _did they receive those letters? Why these specific people?'_ Tsunade growled as she kneaded the bridge of her nose. '_Could it have been them? Even if it was them, why did they sign it like that? Heck, why even tell them they can join? They don't have the ability to make them members!'_ Tsunade heaved a sigh and fished out a bottle of sake from her desk and began chugging it down, one last thought running through her head. '_One thing is for sure, a shit-storm has just started up, and I'll bet anything that it doesn't end here!_'

Unknowingly, Tsunade won that bet, and as always, the rule held. If the Legendary Sucker won a bet, it could only mean there were dark things looming on the horizon.

* * *

**Location: Hidden Leaf, Cabin in the woods, 11:55 P.M.**

All was quiet. Night had fallen, most creatures had fallen asleep, and not even the wind dared rustle the countless nearby leaves.

The silence was mutely broken by the muffled landings of thirteen ninja and a dog on the grass nearby.

After a few moments the dog barked at its owner.

"Akamaru can't smell anybody nearby. We're alone," Kiba stated. Almost immediately the group relaxed, the tension dissipating.

"Alright, everyone fan-out and keep an eye open," Kakashi ordered. "Hinata, Neji, it goes double for you. Keep your Byakugan active." The two Hyuuga nodded, simultaneously activating their kekkei genkai. "Anko, summon some snakes and have them check out the surrounding area."

"You got it!" She proclaimed. Anko swiftly – and with a bit more flair than necessary – went through the necessary hand seals.

"Summoning jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, twenty snakes of varying sizes and colors appeared, slithering off into the surrounding forest and unnerving the other ninja, much to Anko's hidden amusement.

Or as hidden as possible when she was laughing her ass off at their discomfort.

Rolling his eyes at his fellow Jounin's antics Kakashi continued. "Naruto, make some shadow clones and- Naruto?" Kakashi stopped when he finally noticed that Naruto wasn't moving.

Naruto was frozen in his spot, staring blankly at the shack that was placed on the edge of the clearing. His reason for this state was that he was currently reliving one of the best yet worst moments of his life.

"_Let's see…the first skill is…Shadow Clone?_"

"_Hey! I found the nose-bleeder!_" "_IDIOT! I FOUND YOU!_"

"_Naruto, give me the scroll!_"

"_Naruto! Don't give him the scroll, even if you die!_"

"_What…kind of rule is it?_" "_The rule is that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox!_"

"_The demon fox would do that…but Naruto is different…_"

"_Don't touch Iruka-sensei, I'll kill you!_"

"_Naruto, come over here. There's something I want to give you…_"

"_Okay, you can open your eyes…_"

"_Congratulations, you pass!_"

"-ruto! Naruto!" Naruto jerked in surprise when he realized someone was shaking him. Looking to his left, he saw that Sakura had her hand on his shoulder, and a concerned look on her face. "Naruto, re you okay? You zoned out for a second."

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh, sorry, just remembering some stuff that happened here awhile back."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Really? What?"

"Um…" Naruto looked around, noticing that the rest of the group was glancing at him curiously, silently asking him to elaborate. "This is where I learned how to use shadow clones!"

"Really?" Kiba asked in surprise. "How'd you learn it way out here?"

"Well, it all started on the day of the Academy's final exam," Naruto started. "While everyone was celebrating their graduation, I was… er… admiring the grass! Yeah, that's it!" The rest of the Rookie Nine present winced at the barely veiled lie, remembering how miserable he had been, and more importantly, how they had all unjustly ignored him. It made them all feel quite guilty.

"Anyway, while I was… admiring the grass," Naruto continued, "Mizuki came to talk to me. He told me how he was sorry about me failing the exam, and that he had tried to change Iruka's mind. Then, he told me… that he wanted to give me a second chance."

"What!? Naruto, the exam results are final, there are no second chances!" Ino exclaimed in shock.

"How was I supposed to know? Besides, I failed three times in a row, I was desperate!" Naruto protested.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed, "We get it Naruto, desperate times, desperate measures."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right, sorry. Anyway, as I said, Mizuki told me he was giving me a second chance. If I could complete one task, one single task, I'd graduate."

"And this task was…?" Tenten asked, already dreading the answer.

Naruto swallowed, his eyes screwed shut in anticipation of their reactions. "… to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Tower and learn a jutsu from it…"

Silence reigned in the clearing as everyone present tried to process what they had just heard.

Finally, Anko broke the silence. "So let me guess. You crashed and burned stealing it?"

Naruto brightened at this. "The opposite, actually. Stealing it was the easy part, all I had to do was show the old man one jutsu and the scroll was mine!"

Sakura, having recovered from her shock, quickly ran through the list of jutsus Naruto had known way back then. Upon reaching a conclusion, she tightened her grip on the blonds shoulder. "Naruto," she said in a disturbingly pleasant voice that chilled Naruto to the bone. "You don't mean the jutsu I _think _you mean, _do you_?"

Naruto swallowed heavily. "M-m-maybe?"

"Um, S-sakura, d-don't you want N-naruto to c-c-continue his story?" Hinata intervened.

Sakura loosened her grip on her teammate's shoulder. "Alright," she said, "But we are having a long and serious talk about this later," Everyone present could tell that the word 'serious' was interchangeable with 'painful'.

"A-anyway, after I got the scroll, I came here, where Mizuki had told me to come and show him a jutsu. The first jutsu in the scroll was the shadow clone jutsu. Took me a couple of hours to get it down…"

"Hang on a sec," Kiba interrupted, "Why was the shadow lone jutsu in the scroll? I mean, you can pull it off effortlessly!"

"Psh, that's an easy one," Anko answered, "The jutsu's a B-rank cause it takes a metric shitload of chakra to make even _one _clone. The only way to actually use them in combat is to have reserves as big as blondie's." '_And we all know that rumor about how chakra capacity is proportional to the size of the package below,_' Anko thought perversely, licking her lips.

Shivering at how the snake mistress was eying him like a piece of meat, Naruto continued his story. "W-well, shortly after I learned how to do it, Iruka showed up. I thought he was there to test me, so I got ready to show him my new jutsu. But then… he pushed me down and shielded me from a bunch of kunai."

Those unaware of the story started in shock. "What? Who would do that?" Tenten asked.

Naruto hung his head sadly. "It was Mizuki. He told Iruka how he'd tricked me into stealing the scroll and coming here, he," Naruto gripped his stomach. "… he called me a monster." Sakura, Kakashi, and Anko were the only ones aware of what he was _really _talking about.

"W-what happened next. N-naruto?" Hinata asked. She was curious as to why exactly Naruto was called _monster_, but she shoved that bit of information away for a later date.

Naruto forged on. "I… I ran. I was scared, confused, I-I had no idea what to do. Then, I ended up at a clearing where Mizuki had cornered Iruka. Mizuki insulted me more, called me a demon, but Iruka," Naruto smiled sadly. "He defended me, he said he knew what it was like to grow up alone, said he was proud of me! And when Mizuki tried to kill Iruka, I defended him." Now Naruto's grin was happy. "I used the shadow clone jutsu! I made lots of them, and I beat the crap outta him!"

The rest of the ninja present stared at him in awe. A three-times failed academy student defeating a fully-fledged Chuunin? It was unheard of.

"When it was all over," Naruto continued, lost in his memory. "Iruka called me over. He told me to close my eyes. When I opened them again, he'd put his headband on me. He…" Naruto paused, remembering the happiest moment of his life. "He told me I'd passed."

The ones who didn't know the story were in shock. They'd always wondered how he'd gotten his headband, how he'd passed despite having failed for the third time in a row, but for it to be something like this, they were practically dumb-founded.

"Wow Naruto, that's incredible!" Ino said.

"Indeed. Why? Because few would have been able to do what you did," Shino added as he adjusted his glasses.

"Sure beats any stories I have!" Kiba exclaimed. Akamaru tilted his head at his master, barking a couple of times, the last bark being rather high pitched, perhaps a question. Instantly, Kiba's face flushed in embarrassment. "You promised never to speak of that again!"

"Yosh! Your flames of youth burn ever brighter, Naruto!" Lee shouted exuberantly, tears of pure joy streaming down from his round eyes.

Neji smiled. "Not bad for the dead-last."

"I gotta admit, despite the idiocy, that was pretty ballsy,." Anko chuckled.

'_Even back then Naruto was strong…_' Hinata thought.

Naruto grinned happily, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he blushed profusely. "Ah, c'mon guys,"

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask at his student's antics. '_Nice to see you happy Naruto._'Kakashi frowned. '_But why can't I help but feel as though we're forgetting something?'_ Suddenly remembering, he checked his new watch that he had snapped on his wrist. Seeing the time, he bit out a curse before addressing the group. "Enough reminiscing, it's 11:59, only 15 seconds left before midnight!"

Reeling in shock, the gathered ninja hastily took positions along the border of the clearing, combing the surrounding woods for any sign of whomever they were supposed to be meeting.

Shikamaru was internally berating himself._ '__Damn it, how could we have possibly have forgotten the time?_'He glanced at Naruto. '_That must have been why the set the rendezvous here, they hoped to trigger Naruto's emotions and distract us._'Sighing dejectedly, the shadow user returned his gaze to the dark forest._ '__Well, no point crying over spilled milk now._'

"Get ready! Midnight in 10…"

Tenten tensed in preparation, tightly gripping the storage scroll on her lower back.

"9…"

Neji focused as much chakra as he could spare into his Byakugan, sending his gaze far into the forest, yet coming up with nothing.

"8…"

Shino listened intently, his kikai buzzing within him, prepared to be unleashed with a moment's notice.

"7…"

Lee stood stock still in his combat stance, ready to leap at anything coming his way.

"6…"

Ino had her hands in her family's personal hand seal, scanning the woods for anyone but coming up empty.

"5…"

Akamaru whined at Kiba, who glanced at him before nodding in agreement. Neither could smell a thing.

"4…"

Anko strained her eyes at the darkness. Though she was only recently promoted to Jounin, her senses we far above normal, and yet, she noted in frustration, she _still _couldn't see anything.

"3…"

Sakura cracked her knuckles, gathering her chakra in her fists.

"2…"

Kakashi raised his headband, exposing the crimson Sharingan.

"1…"

Naruto brought his hands up into his usual cross-shaped hand seal, his chakra ready to burst forth in the form of a torrent of clones.

"0!"

Suddenly, without a single sign of warning, a light, brilliant and blinding burst forth…_from the center of the clearing_!

Shocked, the ninja all turned around almost simultaneously, uttering expressions of shock and fear.

Naruto only had the time to shout "What the he-!" before the light washed over him, cutting him and his friends off.

* * *

**Location: ?**

"What on Earth are you wearing!? It's so…ASSYMETRICAL!"

"BEANSPROUT, THIS IS YOUR FAULT, I JUST KNOW IT!"

"I can't believe my eyes! Even though I don't have any! YO HO HO HO, SKULL JOKE!"

"Inuyasha, would you stop-! Oh, forget it, SIT BOY!"

"SHUT UP, GRAY! THIS IS GETTING ME FIRED UP!"

"Ciaossu!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A MINISCULE SPECK OF DUST NOT EVEN WORTH THE TIME TO STEP ON!?"

"Rangiku, I understand that you might be frightened, but would you please LET ME GO AND STOP SUFFOCATING ME!?"

"Hey Neg-meister, check it out, we're in hog-heaven!" THWACK! "OW! ASUNA! STOP HITTING ME! HELP! ANIMAL ABUSE!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?"

**To be continued…**

**(Edit)A.N. Well ladies and gentlemen, here's the REAL Chapter 2! Truth is that unforeseen circumstances forced me to post it when it was only half-way done, but I managed to polish it up rather nicely in my opinion! Anyway, here's the real way it was supposed to end, and I'm really sorry for taking so long, I suffered from a terrible disease known as procrastination. I'm lazy and love reading the stuff on this site, sue me! XP Anyway, I'll try and be faster on future chapters, just humor me. I promise, the only time this fic will truly die is when I'm in the grave! Anyways, thanks a lot for reading, so please go ahead and review, I CRAVE motivation! Also, many thanks to my faithful editor HTM, without whom none of this would be possible. Till next chapter, Xomniac out!**

**Editor's note: *yawn* You know how stuff happens but stuff comes in the way before stuff gets done? No? Neither do I. So let's get on with doing this shit!**


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